The Eden Prairie chapter of Let’s Go Fishing keeps its pontoons at Riley Lake Park, where the nonprofit hosts community outings. Photo by Hayden Koughan
The water was calm on Lake Riley last week – both literally and figuratively – as students from Annunciation Catholic School climbed aboard pontoon boats for a fishing trip. For a couple of hours, they focused on reeling in sunnies instead of what had happened two weeks earlier.
On Aug. 27, a gunman opened fire during a back-to-school mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, killing two students, Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, and injuring 21 others. Students tried to shield one another, hiding under pews as bullets and glass tore through the sanctuary.
To give families a break from the trauma, volunteers from Let’s Go Fishing Eden Prairie invited groups of students and their parents out on the lake Sept. 10 and Sept. 13. Classes at Annunciation resumed Sept. 16 on a modified schedule.
“We had two boatloads go out on Wednesday, and we’ve got two more scheduled for tomorrow,” said Mike Gruidl, vice president of the Eden Prairie chapter, last week. “The idea is just to go out, have a good time, and let the kids get their minds off it.”
The nonprofit, founded locally in 2012, runs entirely on volunteers and provides free boating and fishing outings for seniors, veterans, youth and people with disabilities. Its Riley Lake Park base includes two pontoons and a dock at the public landing.
Gruidl, who taught at Annunciation from 1968 to 1972, said the trips drew about 20 children each time, many in fourth through sixth grade. Parents were encouraged to join.
“The kids have gone through an awful lot,” he said. “But when they were out there, nothing about the shooting came up. They just enjoyed being on the water. One group of eight boys caught 187 fish, which was a new record for us. They were pulling them in left and right.”
Local businesses pitched in, with Scheels donating items to hand out and Cub Foods providing a gift certificate for snacks. Volunteers also stepped up, Gruidl said, with more offers to help than he could use.
“My wife and I went over to the school a day or two after the shooting,” he said. “We probably spent three hours there, just talking with kids and parents. I never wanted to push anything, but in those conversations we offered fishing as an option. The parents really embraced it. They said, ‘If we can go fishing and not have to drive 120 miles up to Brainerd for a good lake, that would be wonderful.’ And with us, it’s completely free. We provide everything — the rods, reels, bait, all of it.”
Gruidl said his connection to Annunciation made the effort especially meaningful. “I recognized a lot of the family names,” he said. “It’s still a close-knit community, and we just wanted to do something for them.”